Africa > Burkina Faso > Economy

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Agriculture > products cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock
Aid as % of GDP	15.3%		[18th of 129]
Debt > External	$1,330,000,000.00		[123rd of 136]
Distribution of family income > Gini index	39.5		[6th of 43]
Economic freedom	1.75		[98th of 156]
Economy > Overview One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In 2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.
Exports	$617,000,000.00		[140th of 189]
GDP	$6,205,320,000.00		[117th of 203]
GDP > PPP	$15,071,000,000.00		[109th of 163]
GDP > Real growth rate	4.2%		[123rd of 198]
GINI index	39.51		[18th of 40]
Gross National Income	$2,531,620,000.00		[122nd of 172]
Human Development Index	0.317		[176th of 178]
Income category	Low income
Income distribution > Poorest 10%	2%		[82nd of 114]
Income distribution > Richest 10%	46.8%		[5th of 114]
Population below poverty line	46.4%		[15th of 46]
Population under $1 a day	61.2		[6th of 59]
Poverty > Share of all poor people	0.62 % of world's poor		[17th of 80]
Tourist arrivals	138,000		[109th of 152]

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